Oklahoma State Football: 2022 Depth Chart Projections
We are now officially in the worst stretch of the college football offseason with summer underway and spring ball complete. Now, just three months of arguing aimlessly over Heisman odds and way-too-early top-25 polls.
The football content this time of year is slim pickings, that’s why I took it upon myself to predict Oklahoma State’s entire depth chart in an attempt to satisfy my college football cravings.
These predictions are based on the various rotations I saw in the Cowboys’ spring finale, plus an extensive knowledge of how Mike Gundy normally sets his teams up. I tried to include every player on the Pokes’ current roster, as well as all of the late arrivals that will be in Stillwater anywhere from now until August (these players are denoted by a ‘00’ in front of their name, as we don’t know their jersey numbers yet).
Please note that these are the depth chart positions I believe we will see week one. Of course the actual depth chart will end up looking vastly different later in the year than what we see to start the season.
Starting with the offense, I’m giving the backup quarterback edge to Gundy Jr. as he performed really well in the spring finale, plus he’s had a full year and two offseasons with Kasey Dunn’s offense, which is leaps and bounds more than true freshman Garrett Rangel.
Dominic Richardson is the most experienced running back on roster, so I think he will get the nod come week one. Coveted freshman Ollie Gordon comes in at third string, but with how much hype he’s getting based on practices, I wouldn’t be surprised if he makes his way up the rotation by the end of the year.
The tough part of predicting the wide receivers is that I’m not 100% sure who will play the Z or X positions because some guys played both last season, like Rashod Owens. However, I do have pretty high confidence in my three-deep at all three receiver spots. While I would prefer Braydon Johnson to move to the slot, I have a feeling that he will come back off his injury and retake his X role.
Offensive line was even more difficult to compile. I mostly went off of this tweet put out by the guys over at the Feels Like 45 Podcast:
Oklahoma State hasn’t had a set offensive line unit in seemingly forever, but hopefully with a little more depth in the form of transfer can solidify that group in 2022.
Offense
| First | Second | Third | Fourth | Fifth | |
| Quarterback | 3 Spencer Sanders | 12 Gunnar Gundy | 13 Garrett Rangel | ||
| Running Back | 20 Dominic Richardson | 23 Jaden Nixon | 0 Ollie Gordon | 24 CJ Brown or 00 Deondre Jackson | 25 Andre Washington or 5 Zach Middleton or 26 Asa Osbourn |
| Cowboy Back | 90 Braden Cassity or 28 Blaine Green | 82 Quinton Stewart | 11 Tabry Shettron | 47 Luke McEndoo | |
| Z-Receiver | 85 Jaden Bray | 19 Bryson Green | 2 Talyn Shettron | 00 Stephon Johnson or 00 Mason Gilkey | 84 Xavier Dandridge |
| X-Receiver | 8 Braydon Johnson | 10 Rashod Owens | 88 Langston Anderson | 37 Cale Cabbiness or 36 Vance Hooper | 39 Peyton Kramer or 86 Rashad Dixon |
| Slot-Receiver | 80 Brennan Presley | 17 John Paul Richardson | 00 Braylin Presley | 81 CJ Tate or 32 Clayton Barbour | 15 Rylan McQuarters |
| Left Tackle | 76 Caleb Etienne | 77 Tyrone Webber | 00 Casey Collier | 00 Austin Kawecki | |
| Left Guard | 67 Cole Birmingham | 54 Silas Barr | 73 Darian Jones | ||
| Center | 74 Preston Wilson | 66 Joe Michalski | 56 Jake Henry | ||
| Right Guard | 70 Hunter Woodard | 68 Taylor Miterko | 65 Hilton Marsh | 00 Jason Brooks | |
| Right Tackle | 61 Jake Springfield | 75 Eli Russ | 79 Logan Nobles | 00 Calvin Harvey or 00 Davis Dotson |
New defensive coordinator Derek Mason’s squad will look a little different compared to last year’s historic unit.
OSU loses both of their two leading tacklers to the pros as new faces look to replace them. I have Mason Cobb and Xavier Benson taking over the linebacker spots, with Lamont Bishop, NIck Martin and Na’Drian Dizadare rotating in.
I’m fairly confident that Kendal Daniels finds himself as the day one starter at safety alongside Jason Taylor II and Thomas Harper. The safety group is one of the deepest on the team, with a plethora of guys all the way down the depth chart that I think could fill in if needed.
The two starters at corner were a gimme, but I referred back to the spring game in regard to the backup roles. Demarco Jones and De’Kelvion Beamon seemed to play the most behind the two starters, and Dylahn McKinney had a surprisingly high number of significant snaps for a true freshman. I will say, keep an eye out for Cameron Epps come this fall. He is another true freshman that lit up his high school competition, but we have not seen him in action at the college level yet as he will be a summer arrival.
Perhaps the most loaded position group on the entire team, the defensive line unit was a challenge to pin down on a depth chart, as they rotated in and out so frequently last season and so many guys proved they could be starters. Collin Oliver is the obvious pick at the edge rusher spot, but with Trace Ford coming back from season-ending knee surgery, it will be hard to keep him off the field.
The same goes for the opposite defensive end spot, with both Brock Martin and Tyler Lacy sure to fight for primetime snaps.
As for defensive tackle, it’s a pretty safe bet that Brenden Evers and Sione Asi will be the week one starters, but one dark horse to look out for is Collin Clay, a redshirt junior who has yet to play a single snap for OSU since transferring from Arkansas in 2020.
Defense
| First | Second | Third | Fourth | Fifth | |
| Cornerback | 7 Jabbar Muhammad | 22 Demarco Jones | 27 Raymond Gay or 8 Dylahn McKinney | 10 Kale Smith | 00 Cameron Epps |
| Safety | 5 Kendal Daniels | 18 Sean Michael Flanagan | 17 Lyrik Rawls | 33 David Johnson | |
| Safety | 25 Jason Taylor II | 39 Trey Rucker | 14 Nick Session | 35 Parker Robertson or 49 Dylan Davis | |
| Safety | 13 Thomas Harper | 12 Kanion Williams | 15 Ty Williams | 38 Carter Barnard | |
| Cornerback | 2 Korie Black | 24 De’Kelvion Beamon | 26 Jordan Reagan or 3 Cam Smith | 20 DeSean Buckner | 29 Cole Stanley |
| Linebacker | 0 Mason Cobb | 11 Lamont Bishop | 40 Donovan Stephens | 83 Gordie Geymuller or 51 Bo Hardy | 53 Tyler Berryhill |
| Linebacker | 1 Xavier Benson | 46 Nick Martin or 36 Na’Drian Dizadare | 45 Jeff Roberson | 41 Constantino Borrelli or 48 Elijah Wright | 32 Gabe Brown |
| Edge | 30 Collin Oliver or 94 Trace Ford | 91 Tyren Irby or 92 Nathan Latu | 37 Isreal Isuman-Hundley | 00 DeSean Brown | |
| Defensive Tackle | 98 Brenden Evers | 35 Samuela Tuihalamaka or 56 Xavier Ross | 71 Aden Kelley | 54 Marcus Duckworth | 58 Holden Martinson |
| Defensive Tackle | 99 Sione Asi | 93 Collin Clay | 50 Solomon Wright or 00 Seleti Fevaleaki | 70 Jed Wagner | |
| Defensive End | 9 Brock Martin or 89 Tyler Lacy | 96 Kody Walterscheid | 52 Ben Kopenski or 77 Landon Dean | 81 Dillon Metcalf or 57 Ryan Baker or 00 Jaleel Johnson | 59 Martin Sheared |
Finally, the group that takes the least amount of speculation as OSU returns every starting and backup guy at each spot. Surprisingly, Tom Hutton is currently the only punter on the roster, but I’m sure coach Gundy will pick up a walk-on later this summer.
As for the kick and punt returners, I’d say Brennan Presley secured his spot on both after the electric 100-yard kick return in Bedlam. Braydon Johnson acted as his cohort before his injury, and I think he fits right back into the spot given his speed.
I have to believe the newest incoming Presley brother makes his way onto special teams eventually. Braylin Presley is just too electric to keep the ball out of his hands, which he showed during his time at Bixby.
Special Teams
| First | Second | Third | Fourth | Fifth | |
| Kicker | 49 Tanner Brown | 19 Alex Hale | 59 Gabriel Reed | 69 Logan Ward or 79 Campbell Ambrose | |
| Punter | 29 Tom Hutton | ||||
| Long Snapper | 53 Matt Hembrough | 63 Zeke Zaragoza | 57 Cade Davis | ||
| Kick Return | 80 Brennan Presley | 8 Braydon Johnson | 00 Braylin Presley | 2 Talyn Shettron | 5 Zach Middleton |
| Punt Return | 80 Brennan Presley | 17 John Paul Richardson | 00 Braylin Presley | 23 Jaden Nixon | 5 Zach Middleton |
